Made Up Stories
Category: The Mighty Boosh
Characters: Howard Moon, Vince Noir
Pairing: Howard Moon/Vince Noir
Rating: PG
Status: Complete
Length: 1-5k words
Chapter One
Contents
Chapter One
Howard sat on the edge of the bed, staring at the photo of him and Vince. It was the middle of the night, the house was silent, the world was sleeping. He didn’t know how long he’d been sitting there but there was a vague sense that the darkness had fallen outside a long time ago and had been present when his thoughts had turned from despair to hatred and back.
He heard a key turn in the lock of the front door, the sound was so out of place in this house of eerie silence, so unwelcome that he shivered. He didn’t have the energy to get up or pretend everything was still ok, not after tonight. He felt numb and there was only one thought in his mind – ‘Can’t deal with this no more.’
Thinking about it for so long still hadn’t made the situation any clearer in his mind, did he confront Vince straight away? What was he supposed to say? Howard closed his eyes, “Please wont you go back out,” an irrational hope, but right now he just needed more time to think, to be alone. Howard’s hopes were shattered as he heard Vince quietly walking up the stairs, his footfalls seemed to be steady – he’s not drunk then. Not drunk enough to laugh this off anyway.
“Don’t come back and pretend to tell me the night you’ve had with your Made Up Stories.” The line was so well rehearsed by the time Vince was standing in the doorway, but it still sounded odd. Howard meant to shout it, to hurt Vince like Vince had hurt him. But he couldn’t quite manage it, there was a lump in his throat, pounding in his head and the tears were burning his eyes again. Vince just stood in the doorway and stared at Howard, neither of them spoke or moved for a minute, and again the silence was deafening.
Vince was confused, and there was a note of panic in his voice, “Howard, what …what you on about?”
“I saw you Vince, don’t even try to lie about it, I was there but you didn’t see me.”
“You were at the club tonight?”
Howard was still staring at the floor as he ran through the memory of this evening in his head, it wasn’t any less painful now, he felt crushed – breathing wasn’t so easy anymore, as if with every breath he was closer to breaking down completely. But he knew he couldn’t give in now, there was so much more he needed to say, “there you were and the floor was empty, you and him getting more than friendly. It was just a kiss but I could see you meant it.”
Vince saw the look on Howard’s face, he wasn’t just broken any more – he was totally shattered. And it was all Vince’s fault.
“The saddest thing for me was I trusted you.” Howard had to say it now, he couldn’t look at Vince, if he saw that beautiful face right now it would break his heart even more. “Then standing out of view, I just had to leave ‘cos of what I’d have done to you.”
Vince was shaking, he knew at the time it was a stupid mistake, he’d tried to forget about it – that’s why he’d came home earlier than usual, back to Howard – his rock, his life. But he’d never thought Howard would have been at the club, would find out, how was he going to explain this? A million explanations ran through Vince’s mind, but none of them seemed right, before he could find the right words, Howard spoke again, “I brought your favourite coat, I know how cold you get, and you left it.”
Vince tore his eyes away from Howard to stare at the crumpled coat on the bed, there was something about it that seemed so insignificant, but as if it was the coat’s fault for what had happened tonight. It was as if Vince could tell how hurt and angry Howard had been by the way the coat had been thrown across the bed, it was too much for Vince and he covered his face with his hands.
End Notes: The lyrics of the song used in the fic:
‘Can’t deal with this no more.’
“Please wont you go back out,”
“Don’t come back and pretend to tell me the night you’ve had with your Made Up Stories.”
“I was there but you didn’t see me.”
“there you were and the floor was empty, you and him getting more than friendly. It was just a kiss but I could see you meant it.”
“The saddest thing for me was I trusted you.”
“Then standing out of view, I just had to leave ‘cos of what I’d have done to you.”
“I brought your favourite coat, I know how cold you get, and you left it.”